The rescue package for the stumbling energy supplier Uniper is in place: the general meeting approved the state entry on Monday with only a few dissenting votes, so that the federal government can take over almost 99 percent of the group.
However, the planned capital increase still has to wait.
It can only be implemented after the EU Commission has given its approval under state aid law, which CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach expects “in the next few days”.
This is probably linked to conditions for the sale of individual business areas.
Helmut Buender
Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.
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In addition to other KfW loans for interim financing, the aid package includes direct financial injections from the federal government of up to 33 billion euros.
Eight billion are planned for a short-term planned capital increase excluding the existing shareholders.
A further 25 billion euros are to cover the losses expected from the gas business in the coming years.
"We are grateful and relieved that the federal government is giving us prospects for the future," said Maubach.
Payment of bonuses excluded
A framework agreement concluded on Monday regulates in detail what future cooperation should look like.
Responsibility for the Uniper stake lies with the Ministry of Finance.
The agreement defines the federal government's co-determination and approval rights and imposes certain reporting and information obligations on Uniper.
The payment of bonuses to the board and supervisory board is excluded as long as the company has not repaid at least 75 percent of the federal aid.
Another agreement relates to the previous parent company Fortum, whose share of almost 80 percent will be completely taken over by the federal government for half a billion euros.
Fortum will be granted special rights if Uniper sells all or part of its Swedish nuclear and hydropower business by the end of 2026: The Finns will then be able to make the first offer, but will not enjoy the right of first refusal.
The contractual clarifications have so far been purely theoretical: Uniper emphasized that there are currently no intentions to sell.
However, there is speculation that the Swedish activities could be part of the EU requirements.
Will the worst be over by the end of 2024?
Because Russia no longer supplies natural gas, Uniper has had to buy at much higher prices since the summer without being able to pass on the increased procurement costs to its own customers.
Maubach gave hope that the worst could be over by the end of 2024.
Most of the delivery obligations linked to the terms of the previous Gazprom contracts then expired.
This means that price guarantees for several hundred municipal utilities and industrial customers are no longer valid.
"By 2024 at the latest, new business will be higher than old business," said Maubach.
There is no reason to fear that major customers will then turn away from Uniper.
He expects a stable market share in the gas business.
The entry into the state caused further capers on the stock exchange.
During the Annual General Meeting, the price rose by up to 20 percent, and later the Uniper share gave up a large part of these gains.
"We have a rocky road ahead of us," said Maubach.
In addition to the restructuring of the gas business, energy trading and power plant operation, Uniper is focusing on environmentally friendly hydrogen and investments in renewable energies.
He was willing to negotiate about the hard coal-fired power plant Datteln 4, for which Uniper has an operating license until 2038.
"In this context, Uniper has always indicated that it is willing to talk," said Maubach.
Sharp criticism came from environmental organizations.
The German Environmental Aid (DUH), Greenpeace and other associations called on the federal government to bring the group on a climate policy course.
Uniper must move away from gas, coal and nuclear power in order to become sustainable in the long term, it said in a statement.
This would also have to be accompanied by personnel consequences on the Management Board and the Supervisory Board.
"The future state-owned company must move from being the brake pad to the engine of the energy transition," said DUH Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kraenner.